Dramatics

The centerpiece of the Roxbury Latin dramatics program is the 300-seat Robert P. and Salua J.A. Smith Theater, a well-appointed facility with unobstructed sight lines, fly and trap capabilities, an optional orchestra pit and excellent acoustics for student voices.

Three faculty-directed productions are presented annually:

• the Senior Play, featuring actors in Classes I-III (with girls from neighboring schools);
• the Junior Play for performers in Classes IV-VI (also with girls from neighboring schools); and
• the Spring Musical, jointly produced with the Winsor School, usually open to students from the upper four classes.

As part of their regular study, boys in Class IV perform an adaptation of one of Plautus’ comedies in Latin.

All onstage roles and most of the technical work—set design and construction, lighting, and sound—in all productions are performed by students. In each of the past 24 years, at least one full-length production has been initiated and directed by students.

In 2007–08, the senior play was The Devil’s Disciple by George Bernard Shaw; the junior play was Alan Ayckbourne’s My Very Own Story. Student-directed productions included Peter Schaffer’s Black Comedy and a selection of sketches by Rick Ortloff, and the spring musical was Grease, book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey.